Trouble With Fire
by Keyblade Ninja 21
Summary: Avatar: TLA au where Otabek is the Avatar. He's mastered the other three elements easily enough, but fire is beginning to look impossible. He just can't just seem to get the hang of it, only managing little puffs of smoke if he was lucky. His last hope to learn may be from a firebending prodigy in the Fire Nation...
1. Chapter 1

**I was scrolling through tumblr (big surprise there) and found this idea for a Yuri! On Ice - Avatar: The Last Airbender au. Otabek is the Avatar and is in need of a firebending teacher! This is also my first fic for Yuri on Ice, so I hope you guys like it.**

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Otabek watched the elegant dance of the flames as he sat cross legged in front of his earth-bended tent for the night. Sometimes he was oddly mesmerized by the flames, watching the fluidity that the manifestation of heat possessed. Other times, he could have swore the flames mocked him in their own fire language.

A few sparks flew out of the fire at him.

Yep. The fire was definitely mocking him.

Hopefully his new firebending teacher wouldn't mock him like the flames seemed to. Otabek had mastered the other three elements easily enough so he could travel and learn from other sources outside his chosen teachers. There was so much to learn from the other benders. Some had even learned how to bend vines in a giant swamp he had to pass through to travel through the earth kingdom. That had been the weirdest thing he'd ever seen. The people were nice, however, even if they lacked the urge to fully clothe themselves.

Otabek saw no future need to bend vines and plants, but just in case, he had them teach him for the few days he was there. Since he was the avatar, it was his duty to learn all he could to help others. Should a problem arise that required the avatar, he would need to know how to quickly and best resolve the issue. That had been the only real rule that everyone seemed to agree on: The world was Otabek's concern now. He was to show no preference and keep the balance of the world in order. To keep the balance, he had to learn, so learn he did.

Otabek had learned the other elements easily enough. Earth, his first, was simple; He lived his life surrounded by the earth. Be it the Earth Kingdom's walls or the very ground, there was earth everywhere. He could easily feel connected to the area around him, making earth bending nearly as easy as breathing. The firm and steady motions of the forms seem to come to him naturally, and after years of training, he felt confident in his bending.

Finding out he could waterbend was an accident. He had been practicing his earth bending forms by the small river that passed through the mountains near his home. The sun was shining against his chest and back as he practiced. His parents had said what a skilled bender he was and he didn't want to let them down. While practicing, a fire ferret and her tiny babies crossed right over Otabek's feet. Smiling, he had paused his steps, letting them continue. While friendly, some of the ones in the forests were a little skittish, and he didn't want to frighten them. They passed over his feet, one of them sticking their little noses onto his toes to sniff him.

They squeaked and sniffed at the ground, playing with the tiny rocks that Otabek had bended into the air. Soon after they made their way towards the little lip of the ground that reached a foot above the water. Before Otabek could help it, the littlest one had fallen in and was scrambling to swim as the current (while slow) was still pulling the little creature along. Before Otabek could think, he just moved, arms thrown outward and lifting up.

He wasn't sure who was more surprised by this near impossible feat, him or the little fire ferret. Otabek would bet that it was him. He pulled the ferret back to land, and the little family immediately shot back into the forest.

Stunned, Otabek had stayed there, watching the water before hesitantly trying again. The water moved a little, but he didn't know any forms or the proper movements to bend water so his feats were infinitesimal. They were still definitely feats though.

After that, he made his way back home to tell his parents. Then they headed to the capitol to tell the proper people that Otabek might be the Avatar.

He was. Without a doubt.

Otabek's quiet life of staying near his little Earth Kingdom city was over. Not long after, he was carted off to the north to begin mastering the elements.

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The fire nation city that Otabek was headed towards, was larger than he had anticipated. Otabek was used to the earthy tones of his home, and while he knew that the other kingdoms had their own traditions and cultures, he was still somehow taken aback when he reached the hill to overlook the outskirts of the city.

The buildings all formed red-roofed lines to the center of the city where a giant temple sat proudly. A statue of the current fire lord stood outside, proud and strong, with small flames coming out of his hands.

Otabek was supposed to meet with one of the fire nations prodigies. He was highly recommended since his other teachers hadn't panned out well. Breathing while squatting in the sun just wasn't teaching him anything, though he kept with it for a week before moving on with his apologies. Another teacher of his was far too aggressive in his bending, coming at Otabek far too intensely than he was used to dealing with.

Being a more quiet and reserved person, Otabek almost found fire to be a confusing element. He knew that he needed the heat from the sun, could feel it beat down on his back as he practiced, and yet he just couldn't feel a connection to it. Fire was wild, and definitely destructive if unchecked; just about everything Otabek wasn't.

Quietly, with a luke warm sense of hope, Otabek made his way through the city. The people milled about, smiling and happy. Children ran around, some playing while others stopped to point Otabek out amongst the crowd. It was fairly easy to point him out with his earthly colored clothes in the sea of proud reds. Thankfully, most didn't know what the Avatar looked like, so he could travel in peace for a while. He liked peaceful. Once people found out he was the Avatar, his very presence drew too much attention. And while the attention he could deal with, he didn't like everyone crowding his space and clammoring around him.

Once he arrived at the temple, he saw a group of at least ten children getting lessons in beginning forms. Perhaps he'd be put with them. He didn't expect to monopolize someone's time, and it wasn't the first time he had been put into a class with beginners or children. Rather than see it as a negative thing, Otabek was fine with it. The children usually loved getting to learn with the Avatar, and Otabek liked the children's infectious energy. And maybe he'd get to show off just a little...

"Excuse me," Otabek interrupted the lesson as the kids stepped into another form. "I'm here to see Viktor Nikiforov, do you know where he is?"

The teacher turned in a huff, before looking at Otabek closely. Otabek could literally pinpoint the exact moment that the older, stuffy teacher realised he was the Avatar. The older man's face went from distaste to an open excitement and a bright smile. "Of course, of course. He's right inside actually," the man told him, gesturing towards the inside of the temple. Then the man huffed. "Good luck getting him to focus though..." And with that, the man bowed to him and went back to teaching the children.

Well, that was weird. Otabek bowed back, trying to mimic the placement of his hands, and headed towards the temple. The inside of the temple was smooth marble that flickered in the reflection of the small flames that stretched along the far wall. Large paintings of important fire benders in their history hung on the other walls.

In front of one of the paintings stood a lean man with silver hair. He was standing with a hand on his hip and the other hand near his face, pointer finger tapping against his chin. He seemed to be contemplating something deeply, and Otabek stood there for a moment in the silence. He really didn't want to interrupt, but at the same time, this guy knew he was arriving.

"Excuse me?" Otabek said quietly. Maybe it was a good sign that his new teacher seemed to contemplate instead of throwing flames first, and barking at Otabek when he couldn't produce a flame.

"Oh!" he snapped, turning to look at Otabek finally. "I'll just tell him that he's the most beautiful person I've ever seen! Do you think that'd work?"

"Umm..." Otabek hummed, confused. "I don't know who you're talking about. I was sent here to see Viktor Nikivirov so he could teach me fire bending?" The end to his sentence died out in the question. Was Otabek wrong, maybe? Had he gotten the dates wrong? The city?

The silver haired man pursed his lips for a moment, before snapping his fingers. "That's right, I guess I did tell the old man that I'd teach you..." he murmured to himself. "Well, I'm headed into the city, so you can get yourself situated. Do you have a place to stay? There are rooms here in the temple you can use. I'm sure no one would oppose to the Avatar staying here."

Otabek wasn't sure how to take his new potential teacher. He seemed a bit...odd. "If that's fine, I'd like to stay here." He only had his small bag of belongings on his back so he didn't need much space. Plus space was never really an issue if he could earth bend a room from the earth to sleep in.

"Right this way!" Viktor smiled brightly, leading Otabek down one of the halls that was at the opposite end of the room. The halls gave way to a small staircase that went up and up through each of the floors of the temple. After picking a room at random, Viktor said he'd be back in a while and left quickly. Otabek just shrugged and set his bag on the bed and looked out the window. From there he could see the children practicing still, each moving as instructed. They weren't practicing with fire yet, and Otabek almost hoped that he would get to stick with the forms for a while.

He watched the students practice for a while through the window, his mind working out which forms came next in the repeated sequences. He might as well get a head start in his training.

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He didn't think Viktor Nikivorov was going to work out either as his firebending teacher.

The man was well trained, and excellent in his movements. However, he just... didn't want to teach Otabek. Not that it was anything personal, training the Avatar was an important assignment. Viktor had tried, and he even taught him some of the basic motions and forms. But Otabek could tell that his heart wasn't in it. Not to mention, the man kept getting distracted, often daydreaming about a mysterious stranger he happened to see in the city a few weeks prior.

Otabek wasn't going to force anyone to teach him, or waste anyone's time, so he told Viktor he didn't have to teach him. He'd rather watch and learn from a general class or from afar than from a teacher who would half-ass his lessons. Otabek _needed_ to learn firebending, even if he was still weary about it in general.

Back to square one.

A flash of fire caught Otabek's attention, a quiet _whoosh_ of noise in the open courtyard. He had been trying to meditate and focus, trying to feel connected to his elements like he was used to. Why was fire so hard to learn?

The first thing Otabek noticed was the bright blonde hair. The second thing was the impressive streams of fire that the boy produced easily, as if it were as simple as breathing. He seemed to move with the fire, his movements still smooth yet concise. Otabek could swear the saw _fire_ in the guy's green eyes.

"What the hell are you staring at?"

Otabek jumped a little, cheeks going warm at getting caught staring. He hadn't meant to stare, but he couldn't help but be mesmerised for a moment. He hadn't seen anything like that since... well, ever.

"Well?" the boy demanded again, arms crossed over his chest. Now that Otabek got a better look at him, the boy was lean yet still muscled enough from what looked to be years of firebending. He also didn't look that much younger than Otabek himself.

"I was just observing," Otabek answered honestly.

"Observing?" the boy scoffed in disbelief. "This isn't a free show. What are you even doing here?"

"I'm here to learn firebending."

Those green eyes looked him up and down, brows pulling down as he looked. "Aren't you an earthbender?"

He nodded.

"...You're the Avatar?" the question came after a few quiet moments.

Otabek nodded again. Maybe he could get this new person to teach him. _Something_ felt right about that, having this man teach him. Everyone else was nice enough, but they didn't have that _fire_ in their eyes. That drive; that something extra.

Green eyes trailed over him again, this time slower. Otabek straightened his spine, pulling himself up to look taller. He was taller than the blond by a bit, more muscular as well.

The bond sighed loudly. "Isn't that lovesick idiot supposed to be teaching you?"

"He was," Otabek agreed. "He's just not the right teacher for me. He is talented, though."

Another scoff, this time more aggravated than disbelieving. "Yeah, he's talented, whatever. That still doesn't explain why you were watching me."

Otabek was unsure how to handle the blond. He was very prickly and had attitdue to spare, a constant frown on his face. "I was practicing, meditating when I heard you. I followed the noise to see you bending," he explained. "I've never seen anything like it before."

He watched a slight blush cover the blond's cheeks as his eyes widened a bit. "Really?" Then he shook his head quickly, slight scowl back on his face. "Well, quit sneaking around here and watching me practice. It's creepy." And with that, he walked out of the courtyard towards the path into the city.

 _Just who was that?_ Otabek wondered silently. He was going to have to find out.

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 **Leave a review! Hope you enjoyed it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2!**

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Otabek didn't see the blond boy until nearly a few days later. He stayed in the temple, training and meditating on his last elemental hurdle to becoming a full fledged avatar. He made little to no progress. With Viktor not panning out, Otabek was left watching or participating in the children's formation classes. While he did learn some new things, he still couldn't make a flame. Just smoke, and that was only a few times. It was barely pathetic.

When he wasn't training, or meditating, or failing, he spent time walking around the city. There were armories and vendors on the street, all of them offering the best deals around. A small school was just north of the temple, giving children the other typical lessons than firebending. A popular clothing shop helped him get some Fire Nation clothes so he'd blend in better. A few individual carts sold goods from travelling merchants, all who assured that their goods were limited and the finest around. One slightly crazy man guarded his heads of cabbage like a dog with a bone. He barely let anyone near the cart to sell them.

Otabek waited until midday to bend a large rock structure to sit on outside the city, making sure the sun beat down on him. Surely feeling the warmth from the sun would help his elemental block. At the least, it couldn't hurt any.

He could do this! He _would_ learn firebending, and then laugh at how hard it was before he became a master. Laughing at himself was easy, and he was sure he'd look back at this exact moment and think himself a fool for not getting it. He was just lacking that epiphany moment where it all clicked. Perhaps it was the pressure of being the Avatar that blocked him, although he'd had no problems with the other elements like he did with fire. That wasn't to say he hadn't had trouble learning, but now he felt stuck. If he didn't learn firebending (and learning the skill seemed to grow more impossible every day) then he wouldn't become a full-fledged Avatar. Possibly the only one in any of the cycles to not master all four elements. He'd fail at firebending, and then fail at being the Avatar, and...

Sighing in frustration, he blew out his breath quickly, using airbending to push at the trees in front of him. Maybe he'd have to resort to his air nomad meditation techniques again to help his block.

Almost an hour went by and Otabek made no progress. Instead, he grabbed the pouch of water on his hip and did little tricks with the water, freezing and unfreezing it at will. Immediately, Otabek felt a little better. He had learned _something,_ even if the pressure and anxiety he felt said otherwise.

Water had been relatively easy for him to learn, much to his surprise. He had originally thought that the fluidity of waterbending would be a challenge compared to his rigid teachings of earthbending, but he found it to be the opposite. After stretching his muscles, and working through the basics for a couple weeks, his body moved like a novice waterbender with little problems.

A small family let him stay with them in the north pole. Everything was covered or carved into the very snow, and Otabek's first step was to find some clothes that would keep him warm. The woman, Hiroko Katsuki, made sure to fill him with warm soups and meat while she covered him in blankets. Grateful after a long boat trip, Otabek let her fuss over him. It had been a while since he'd seen his mother and the motherly attention was nice. Her husband made good natured jokes about the snow while she gathered his things and showed Otabek his room.

The solid walls of the room help keep the freezing temperatures out, but a chill still managed to permeate his new coats and skin tight under-clothes. Surely he'd acclimate to the cold after constant exposure. If he was going to be living here for the indefinite future, he'd have to get used to it...

He didn't, but he never complained and just worked his body harder to warm himself. Or he hoarded Hiroko's soups; they were the best at warming his hands and his insides to keep the freezing temperatures at bay.

The Katsuki's also had a son a few years older than himself who went through the waterbending training with Otabek. He was more advanced, but there was only a handful of students so more often than not they were together in the same group. Otabek was surprised that Yuuri took the time to help all of the children with their bending. Not that there was anything wrong with the guy himself, Yuuri was actually really nice. But helping the students so much while Yuuri had his own bending to practice came as a surprise. Most of the earth benders Otabek had met usually made him figure it out with helpful instructions, but nothing more. It was his job to power through and figure it out on his own. Otabek discovered that he liked the strong sense of community that the water benders seemed to have.

Yuuri actually taught Otabek some of the more advanced techniques as he exceled quickly. Most of the younger students would stomp their feet in annoyance when Otabek monopolized Yuuri's free time, but they usually got over it when Otabek helped them with snowball fights. His original teacher, Minako, only got to teach him for a few weeks before she headed towards the Earth Kingdom on business. She taught Otabek the foundation of waterbending, and then left it to Yuuri and the others to help with her apologies. Otabek could have followed her back to his homeland, but she said it would be easier for him to start off learning waterbending while literally surrounded by water.

Otabek stayed with the Katsuki's and in the north pole for a little over half a year. By then, he felt confident in his abilites as a waterbender. Between Minako's teachings, and practicing with Yuuri for so long, Otabek felt like he had another element safely under his belt. He still practiced as he wasn't actually a master yet, but he knew enough to move on.

Hiroko had given him a hug before he left with small tears in her eyes, while Toshiya clasped him on the shoulder with a smile. She made Otabek promise that once he was done learning the elements, or if he needed a break, that he'd come back and visit. It had meant a lot, and Otabek had thanked them profusely, bowing deeply as if they were the masters he had learned from. Hiroko, Toshiya, and Yuuri had went with him to the boats, waving him off as he headed back to the Earth Kingdom.

Feeling a chill around him, Otabek opened his eyes to see that the sun was nearly set now. He definitely had to get back to the temple. Viktor was staying there now, something to do with appeasing the Fire Lord who demanded that Viktor stay with the Avatar and teach him anyway. Otabek didn't particularly care either way, and he probably wasn't ever going to meet the Fire Lord in person to tell him otherwise. Viktor did teach him some of the forms so it wasn't technically a lie. Viktor just wasn't teaching him to actually bend.

Otabek stood and pulled on his sleeveless shirt over his head. Pushing his heel into the rock, Otabek bended the rock back into the ground, making his way back into the city.

Maybe he'd ask Viktor who that blond man was. Maybe _he_ could him how to firebend, how to control the fire in that elegant way that Otabek had witnessed. Maybe maybe maybe... With a determined nod, he decided to ask the blond the next time he saw him.

When he returned, he was surprised to see flames shooting around the far side of the courtyard. The teacher Otabek had met yesterday kept towards the front of the temple with another group of older children, blatantly ignoring the fire show far behind him. Otabek chuckled as the teacher kept having to snap at the students to keep them from getting distracted by whatever what happening.

Otabek sent the group a wave as he made his way to the back of the courtyard. The little blasts of fire that Otabek saw started to wane in power, but they continued valiantly all the same. When he rounded the corner of the temple, he stopped suddenly as fire came flying at his face. A quick whirl of airbending thankfully kept him from getting burned, but it had been close. Sadly, it was the closest Otabek had been to fire since he arrived.

"Come on, Yuri, I want to go walk Makka before it gets too late," Viktor complained, side-stepping as the blond that Otabek had been looking for as he shot flames at Viktor through a fancy set of forms.

Yuri (at least Otabek knew his name now) just snarled as he kept attacking relentlessly. Viktor kept dodging easily, but he was watching intently at each move Yuri made even while he looked nonchalant about it. Finally, after about ten more minutes of Yuri shooting flames at Viktor, Yuri finally hunched over with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily.

"Are you finished?" Viktor asked, hands on his hips again. The silver haired man didn't even look fatigued, and only a bit of his hair was out of place from dodging for so long.

"I'm going to beat you one day, Nikiforov. Just you wait," Yuri panted, looking slightly wild and disheveled.

"I'm sure you will," Viktor smiled brightly. "But you'll have to try harder and control that temper a bit more. Go take a rest, I'm going to walk Makka before it gets too dark." Viktor patted Yuri on the shoulder quickly as he strode by, laughing as Yuri shot a small flame at the older man who just skipped out of the way. Otabek waved at Viktor as he walked inside to open the door, revealing quiet, yet excited _boofs_ coming from a poodle that sat just inside.

Otabek turned and watched as Yuri inhaled and exhaled slowly, fists clenched and frown in place. Frankly, he was impressed at both Yuri and Viktor. Yuri had an aggressiveness and drive that Otabek hadn't seen anywhere else. And Viktor was far more skilled than Otabek had originally thought since he hadn't even lifted a finger against Yuri.

 _Well, it's now or never_ , Otabek thought. "So your name is Yuri?" Otabek asked, walking over towards the blond who was still standing in the middle of the courtyard hunched over. It wouldn't do him any good to dwell on those negative thoughts of his struggles.

Yuri's head whipped up, blond bangs covering his face. "Oh, it's you. Were you staring again?" he asked, nearly demanded, grumpily. "Weirdo."

Otabek couldn't help the small smirk that threatened to pull at his face. He reminded Otabek of a grumpy kitten for some reason. "Not this time, but I did get to watch the end of the fight. You two are excellent benders."

"Quit making fun of me," Yuri huffed, standing up again. Then he glared up at Otabek. "Don't you have something else to do than stand there watching all the time? Go throw some rocks or create a breeze or something!"

"I actually have a question for you," Otabek told him, walking up to stand in front of Yuri. "Would you be my firebending teacher?" There was no point in waiting to ask, or pretending that it wasn't what he wanted. He needed to learn, and Yuri seemed like his only option left.

Yuri's eyebrows rose as he was caught off guard. "What?!" he nearly shouted.

"I want you to be my firebending teacher," Otabek repeated himself calmly. When he had begun his Avatar journey, he had figured air would be the hardest for him to master. The natural opposites were supposed to be the toughest to learn, and yet Otabek was having the most problems with his final element.

Surely, _surely_ between Viktor's beginning lessons and Yuri's passion for bending, Otabek could learn. He'd master his final element in time and become a full-fledged Avatar and remember when he was an idiot who couldn't even make smoke half the time. He'd finally overcome this infuriating hurdle and could move on.

Otabek waited for Yuri to say something. The blond just stood there quietly, still looking slightly confused and grumpy. As it seemed to be Yuri's natural look and attitude, Otabek took it with a grain of salt. He didn't care if Yuri was grumpy, he was pretty hard to anger anyway. He could deal with difficult; he'd let his Earth Kingdom nation down if he wasn't tenacious. All Yuri had to do was teach him, that didn't necessarily mean that he had to be Otabek's friend. And to do that, all Yuri had to say was-

"No, not interested."

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 **So there's chapter 2, hope you guys liked it! Leave a review and let me know what you thought!**


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